It is well known that micronutrients, such as Zinc (Zn), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Copper (Cu), Boron (B) and Molybdenum (Mo), are essential for the growth of plants. It has however always been a problem to correct micronutrient deficiencies in soil, with a hassle free, cost effective, single application product or process.
Water-soluble micronutrients, for example sulphate and chelate forms of micronutrients, are the optimal agronomical solutions to correct micronutrient deficiencies. Coating these micronutrients onto fertilizer granules would provide the most efficient method of applying micronutrients to the root zone of germinating seeds or sprouting plant material.
The inventor is aware of other micronutrient coated fertilizers, however most of these fertilizers are coated with water insoluble sources of micronutrients. Further, most bonding agents contain water which dissolves the materials that are being adhered to. Also, various chemical reactions occurs, which may cause caking, dissolution of the fertilizer granules and degradation of the overall product. The adhesion success of current products are usually temporary and the micronutrients may detach within a short time. Another problem with available products are that they use bonding agents which contain bunker oils or other industrial waste products. These bonding agents are therefore not environmentally friendly and their use may destroy microbial life in the soil, which also plays an important part in the growth of plants.
The current invention aims to address the abovementioned problems, and provide an efficient, economically viable and environmentally friendly coated fertilizer.
In this specification “micronized” refers to a material which has undergone the process of reducing the average diameter of the solid material's particles.